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Archive for November 15th, 2012
Shale offers freedom and security – but it could be a trap
Posted by Guardian: Fiona Harvey, on November 15th, 2012
Guardian: Wars are fought over energy. So vital is it to the economy that the few custodians of the world's oil and gas wealth have the power to determine global booms and recessions.
At last, it seems, a new source of energy might liberate us from this conflict – fossil fuels trapped within dense rock for millennia that we are now able to free, thanks to advances in engineering unthinkable a decade ago, and that are available in countries from Britain to Australia. But those same fossil fuels, much higher...
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How cheap energy from shale will reshape America’s role in the world
Posted by Guardian: Julian Borger and Larry Elliott on November 15th, 2012
Guardian: After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the rise of China and the Arab spring, American energy independence looks likely to trigger the next great geopolitical shift in the modern world.
US reliance on the Gulf for its oil – and its consequent need to maintain a dominant presence in the Middle East to keep the oil flowing – has been one of the constants of the post-1945 status quo. That could be turned on its head.
It's been dubbed "the homecoming". After decades in which the hollowing out of American...
Penan suspend dam blockade, give government one month to respond to demands
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 15th, 2012
Mongabay: Members of the Penan tribe have suspended their month long blockade of the Murum dam in the Malaysian state of Sarawak, reports Survival International. However, according to the indigenous group the fight is not over: the departing Penan said the Sarawak government had one month to respond to demands for sufficient compensation for the dam's impact or face another blockade. Over 300 Penan people participated in the blockade, which stopped traffic leading to the construction site.
The 900 megawatt...
BP agrees to pay largest penalty in US history in $4.5bn Gulf oil spill deal
Posted by Guardian: Suzanne Goldenberg and Dominic Rushe on November 15th, 2012
Guardian: BP has agreed to pay the largest criminal fine in US history – $4.5bn – to resolve all criminal charges arising from the fatal oil rig explosion and catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The company said on Thursday that it had agreed to pay $4bn to the US government over five years, and $525m to the Securities and Exchange Commission. That money will be paid over three years.
The criminal settlement does not settle all of the claims against BP for the April 2010 blowout of the Deepwater...
Drought persists despite rain; wheat struggles
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 15th, 2012
Reuters: A storm system that brought cold, wet weather to much of the United States last week helped ease drought in many states, but some areas that were most in need of moisture were missed, according to a climatology report issued on Thursday.
The U.S. High Plains, which includes key farm states of Nebraska, South Dakota, and Kansas, saw slight improvement last week due to good precipitation. But three quarters of both Kansas and Nebraska continued to suffer from extreme or exceptional drought.
In...
New food assistance accord to take effect in 2013
Posted by AlertNet: Megan Rowling on November 15th, 2012
AlertNet: A new international food assistance convention will come into force on January 1 next year after the European Union ratified it this week, but critics say it lacks teeth.
The accord, agreed in London in April, required ratification of at least five signatories by the end of November to enter into force from the start of 2013. Besides the EU, Japan, the United States, Switzerland and Denmark have also adopted it.
Its predecessor, the Food Aid Convention, was first negotiated in 1967 and updated...
Carbondale Votes Unanimously to Support Statewide Fracking Moratorium
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on November 15th, 2012
EcoWatch: In a unanimous decision, the Carbondale City Council passed a resolution on Nov. 13 calling on the Illinois General Assembly to “enact a moratorium on high volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing until such time as the health and environmental concerns of the people of Illinois are addressed." In this decision, Carbondale joins the Illinois towns of Carlyle, Anna and Alto Pass, and Union and Jackson Counties in taking action supporting a moratorium, becoming the largest city yet to do so.
Horizontal...
How reliable are drought predictions? Study finds flaw in popular tool
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 15th, 2012
Christian Science Monitor: The inappropriate use of a metric for measuring drought has led some studies to overstate a trend over the past several decades toward more frequent, intense droughts, according to a new analysis. The trend has been attributed in no small part to global warming. The authors of the paper caution that the metric's continued use is likely to overstate future effects as well, making it more difficult for water resource managers and others to get reasonable projections of future drought hazards as the...
New Report Reveals Dangers of Fracking in Watersheds with Reservoirs
Posted by EcoWatch: Fresh Water Accountability Project on November 15th, 2012
EcoWatch: A report commissioned by citizens opposed to hydraulic fracturing has identified grave public health and environmental risks in plans to lease public land for fracking near Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD) reservoirs in Ohio. The report, written by Paul Rubin, a high-profile New York Hydrogeologist and president of HydroQuest, warns of toxic water contamination sources which will be created by fracking near and underneath the lakes. The report was sent to the MWCD along with a demand...
BP in ‘advanced’ oil spill talks
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 15th, 2012
BBC: BP has received the biggest criminal fine in US history as part of a $4.5bn (£2.8bn) settlement related to the fatal 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. Two BP workers have been indicted on manslaughter charges and an ex-manager charged with misleading Congress. The Department of Justice (DoJ) said BP must hand over $4bn. The sum includes a $1.26bn fine as well as payments to wildlife and science organisations. As part of the agreement, BP will also plead guilty to 14 criminal charges. The company...